1965 mustang engine rebuild

The engine guys usually aren't here on the weekend.

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I would imagine that odometer has been around at least once, so yeah I'd probably buy a mild aftermarket cam and lifter set if you are keeping the two barrel.

take a trip over to the Comp Cams website. they have an online catalog that has cams for 289's, and descriptions of what each one is used for. There are a few that are based on original specs, so go check them out.

Just swapping cams, you probably won't get anything significant out of the motor. You can get some work done on the heads and still keep them original looking. New cam + worked heads will help you out a bit, but then you'd probably have to take a look at the intake and carb.

Really, this is getting far out of what you wanted to do, so i'm just going to take my leave and let you decide exactly what you want

you can replace lifters without replacing the cam. But, you cannot use a new cam with old lifters. Since you want to keep the stock intake/carb/exhaust, etc, you might as well keep the stock cam. You won't free up any ponies just with a bigger cam because the other stuff will be choking it. There are alot of 'original' cars that have period correct aftermarket intakes and 4 barrel carbs, shelby style headers, etc, so its not like you'll be losing any valuable originality points by ditching the stock 2 barrel stuff. Only problem is, should you decide to upgrade, you might as well pull the engine and rebuild it, otherwise you're pretty much wasting your time trying to build more power into it. By the sound of things, you'd be happier right now to just install some new lifters and enjoy driving it for a while.

65stang289v2 said:

How do I go about changing the lifters? Removing the intake manifold and heads or do I need to take the engine out?

What else can I change with minimum hassle, i.e. not taking the engine out of the engine bay? Valve springs, push rods and rocker arms? Will I see any difference, or do I need to change the camshaft to see any real difference?
In the event that I have to change the cam to a warm cam (nothing extreme), can I keep the original distributor or would that need upgrade also?

What type of lifters should I get? hydraulic or mechanical?

I'm really confused here. I trying to figure a way of putting the puzzle together.

Any feedback much appreciated.

Click to expand...

In order to change the lifters, you need to remove the valve covers, loosten the nuts on the rocker arms and remove the pushrods. You also need to remove the intake manifold to get access to the lifter valley. With the pushrods removed and the intake manifold off, changing the lifters is as easy as pulling out the old ones and inserting new ones. Whenever using new valvetrain parts, make sure to use lots of lifter prelube (you can buy this in small bottles), because regular oil will not be enough protection for brand new valvetrain parts. Lifter replacement absolutely DOES NOT require removing the engine.

As long as you're doing this, it requires very little additional effort to replace the pushrods (you have to remove these anyway to replace the lifters). Replacing the Rocker Arms is a little more involved, as instead of just loostening them to allow enough room to remove the pushrods you would have to completely remove them from the studs and replace them. This is not that big a deal really, as you would have to properly readjust the rocker arms whether or not you reused the ones you already have or replace them.

Valve spring replacement does not require removing the engine either, but it does require removing the cylinder heads to make it easier. You can replace valve springs with the heads still bolted to the block using compressed air in the combustion chamber, but it is much easier to do it with the heads off of the motor.

The amount of difference you will see from changing these parts will be relative to the amount of wear that each sets of parts has experienced. I can't answer how much wear they have endured, so I can't say either how much difference you will "feel". But, it goes without saying that replacing all of these valvetrain components at the same time will guarantee a stable and smooth running valvetrain, as long as the stock cam and valve stem tips are in good condition and don't have too much wear.

If you swap cams, you MUST match the type of lifter to the cam. Example: you must use standard hydraulic lifters with a hydraulic flat tappet cam. You must use solid flat tappet lifters with a solid flat tappet cam. You can also only use roller lifters with a roller cam. The point is, they always have to match.

There is no specific need to replace the distributor because of a cam swap. You DO have to temporarily remove the distributor to replace the cam, but no need to replace the distributor with a new one. The only thing is on some roller cam applications, when swapping cams it may be necessary to swap the gears on the distributor, but this is not a concern for your 289 if you are simply using a standard hydraulic cam.

How do I go about changing the lifters? Removing the intake manifold and heads or do I need to take the engine out?

You can remove the lifters with the engine in. The intake will have to come off as well as the push rods. Most lifters will come out ok by pulling up on them, sometimes they will take a little more effort usually due to some build up on the lifter. They do make a tool to remove lifters.

And about your motor build (my 2 cents):

You want original, but also want more power - so you could focus your build on a "A"-code motor (225hp), hipo motor (271hp), or Shelby motor (306hp). You already have hipo exhaust, so maybe the hipo motor? Since you taking off the intake and carb, replace it with and original cast 4-barrel and carb that will give you some more ponies with no more effort beyond the lifter change. Of course, a new cam and heads will do a lot more for you.

You need to buy this book.

http://www.cartechbooks.com/vstore/showdetl.cfm?DID=6&Product_ID=2439&CATID=3